I thought I ordered WW Autos, but my seed invoice says the seeds were WW feminized photos. I'm sure this was my mistake not ILGM's. As it turns out I'm glad I grew photos as I feel like a learned a lot more than I would have otherwise.
I thought I'd better get on here and wrap this grow up before I get too busy with the next one. First things first - I might have thought I order White Widow Autos, but according to the invoice that shipped with the seeds I received White Widow feminized photos. This would sure explain a lot of what I observed during this grow! Knowing myself like I do, I suspect the mistake was all mine and not ILGM's. I harvested 3 plants (at 19, at 20, and at 21 weeks) just to see how much of a difference it made in the final result. For me the last plant I harvested gives a better high than the earlier 2.
I included two photos of the root structure - to my untrained eye it looks very healthy and makes me wonder if I might want to go with larger pots next time - I used 5 gallons for this grow - maybe 7's or 10's next time around.
What else did I learn...
Fungus gnats are manageable, but success will require some effort. In the last half of the grow I ended up pulling all the plants from their grow room and getting them outside on breezy days around once every 2 weeks. Followed by bleaching in the grow room and using a small vacuum to blow and suck bugs away from the plants.
I'm glad I grew in an active soil (Fox Farms Coco Loco). I was able to hold off on fertilizing until the plants went into flower about 9 weeks) and after that I only used half strength nutrients every 4 days.
I actually watered by weighing the plants on a scale. A little extra work, but it was worth it for reallyt taking out some of the guess work in watering for a new grower who needed all the help he could get.
Keep Good Notes!
I used a tall (48 inches) oscillating tower fan and I think it helped keep the bugs down and made for an overall stronger plant.
I pruned pretty aggressively during the final four weeks. I completely defoliated the lower 10 inches or so to get some much needed ventilation near the soil level. At the first sign that a leaf was showing signs of dying I pruned it which seemed to help keep the bugs down. Also, did a good bit of pruning just to open up buds to more light. I never did a lot all at once, but over time it added up to quite a bit. The plant never seemed any worse for the wear from being aggressively pruned.
It took longer than I expected for the plants to reach harvest. In hindsight I quit fertilizing too early.
Some humidity is good when drying buds. The rH in my drying area probably average about 20% - way too dry! I should have either humidified the room or started curing way earlier as the buds ended up overly dry. I'm having pretty good success in rehydrating using Bovida humidity pacs, but I should have humidified the room.
All in all, I learned a lot and had a lot of fun. I've already started the next grow! From what I can gather, averaging 3.6 ounces per plant for an indoor grow of this strain is pretty good, at least for a first time grower.
Best of luck to all and please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
I’d say that prohibition for decades created a steady supply/demand that set black market prices as they are.
Yes it should have easily gone down in price since legalization has taken hold in the last decade but there are so many factors involved.
Black markets still hold a huge sway on prices, someone in a legal state can just scoot their “legal” product across state lines to illegal markets.
I don’t think we’ll see a significant price decrease commercially (or otherwise) any time soon.
@ButchMcQueen, no problem! It is so rewarding to do it yourself, as with many things in life. But you can’t deny the price savings in growing your own cannabis vs buying.
PS- I do believe that in time legality and market forces will bring prices down but I’d wager it won’t be for several years
@Ezzjaybruh, Those are some points that I hadn't thought about, but they make perfect sense to me. Legal or not, demand is what demand is, and supply is what supply is... and the price responds accordingly. That price being what it is, I'm amazed more people don't grow their own. As I'm learning, there is some work involved, but I'm finding it both satisfying and rewarding. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Hey Butch, good luck with the ILGM White Widows as your first grow! I'm reaching the end of my first grow too. Feel free to look at my diary for comparison and educational purposes. I like to be rather thorough in my diary unlike some others. I am using different materials and techniques than you so far. I look forward to learning from your experience as well. 👍
@JabzXtreme, Just wandered my way through your journal and I must say I'm pretty impressed! Seems to me that you were pretty ambitious going in and that its really paying off for you. Looking forward to seeing how your harvest results turn out. Best of luck!